A Christian Worldview from Silicon Valley

Nowadays, simplicity is a hot topic of exploration. In the USA, our conspicuous consumption has gotten the better of us, and people are interested in downsizing. My own wake-up call came when I told my children’s playmates they weren’t allowed in the garage: “It’s not safe out there!” Too much stuff stacked floor to ceiling and scattered densely along the narrow aisle-ways made for dangerous navigation.

Christians who wish to simplify often turn to Richard Foster’s excellent book, Freedom of Simplicity. One of his most provocative recommendations is this: If you need something, ask God to supply this “daily bread” without your having to buy it. If it comes during a week’s time, thank him. If not, reevaluate, and if you still need it, buy it. This ends impulse buying and reminds us that God is our provider.

When my daughter needed some fabric to complete a requirement for her Girl Scout Silver Award, I took the opportunity to clean out some of my excessive collections of craft supplies that were cluttering our garage. I consolidated several boxes, and ended up with three piles: trash, materials for my daughter, and cross-stitching supplies. Cross-stitching is a structured kind of embroidery I used to enjoy, but no longer find compelling. However, I knew that my husband’s coworker loves the craft, so I asked Keith to deliver the boxful of charts and other items to her. Terry’s reaction astonished us.

In the weeks before I got the bug to clean my garage, Terry had felt God was trying to teach her two things: “to come to Him first for every thing, not just the big things but every single thing as a matter of habit, every time” as well as “to see material possessions the way He does.” One evening while surfing the Internet, Terry  found a cross-stitch chart she really, really liked. But this time she just stopped and prayed, “Lord, I have enough. You have given me everything I need.  I do not need or want any thing more. You are all I need and all I want.  If You want me to have that chart, then I will eventually have it, but I am not going to buy it.”  She was serious about that decision, mentally placing the chart at His feet and going on about her business.

It was several weeks later when Terry received my box and took it home to look through. She says, “My husband and my son must have thought I had completely lost it over in my chair that night, when I turned a chart over and recognized it was the one. I could not stop the tears of joy. How real He is, and how loved can one person be? No one on the planet knew I wanted that chart.”

Along with several thousand other Christians, I spent much of last week in one of America’s most beautiful places, Malibu, California.

I was there for the annual Pepperdine Bible Lectures, a week-long series of classes, talks, singing, meetings and fellowship that is both amazing in its scope and glorious in its setting. There is content, too, but I’ll write about that in another post.

From the cafeteria patio at Pepperdine, I had a more than 200-degree panoramic view of the deep blue Pacific ocean, I was comfortable in shorts every day and every evening, and the skies were constantly clear.

But did that serve to clear my mind or cloud it? Enjoying a warm breakfast while overlooking the ocean is relaxing and inspiring, but does it make for better thinking, or does it create a warped perspective? How much — and how — does where we are impact our worldview?

A friend of mine called the other day to tell me that he had started an organization called IOP — International Organization for Peace — that he had written a white paper outlining his approach to bringing peace to Israel and Palestine, and that he would like for me to read it and respond and possibly even get involved in some way.

Then Omer, who is a devout Muslim, paused and asked, quite sincerely but with some trepidation, “Pastor Lewis, are you in favor of peace between Israel and Palestine?”

My immediate reaction, partly because of the timing of the question and partly because of the depth of the question, was to laugh.

I followed that up quickly with the statement that I was certainly in favor of peace there, but I wasn’t sure it could ever happen.

Omer was relieved. Perhaps he has met a number of Christians and Jews who think war is more desirable than peace, or that war is the way to peace. Obviously there are enough “hawks” on both sides of that conflict to have kept it going for much longer than I’ve been alive.

Now excited that he had found another Christian who might stand beside him, he told me more about his plans and goals. As I write this, he is in Israel trying to gain even more support. I hope he succeeds, and if God uses him in some way, he just might succeed.

I say that because of a scripture I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, 1 Samuel 14.6. In the NASB, it reads like this: Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the LORD will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few.”

You should read that in context, of course, but you will find the principle is the same. Overwhelming odds can sometimes be more apparent than real. If God is on your side, other numbers don’t matter.

I’m praying for Omer and his mission. Perhaps he and the few who are with him will be able to accomplish what presidents and princes, armies and artillery, bombs and bombastic language, have not.

Assuming, naturally, that God is for peace between Israel and Palestine.

This morning Lewis’  sermon was titled “Worship or Warship?”

Sorry, but that’s all it took to get my mind a wandering.

I tried to pay attention. Really, I did. But, what I thought about was just how much a warship is similar to worship.

I have been in the church for many years. I have also spent time on several warships, destroyers, frigates, aircraft carriers, to name a few. I also served on the staff of a Destroyer Squadron as intelligence officer. I could tell you some secrets, but then I’d have to kill you.

I don’t want to stretch this analogy until it breaks, but, let me share some of the many similarities I find between a warship and worship. Read the rest of this entry »

In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul is finishing a section on spiritual gifts and their use in the church when he writes: “When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.”

There are many lessons to be learned in that simple sentence, but one idea I infer from it was that the early church — or at least the church in Corinth, which Paul had a lot to do with — shared with and learned from each other when they assembled. Most of today’s churches, including ours, are much more practitioners of assembling and being led by full time pastors/teachers, people I sometimes jokingly call “professional Christians.”

Being one of those people, I’m clearly not opposed to that. Those who have particular gifts, especially gifts of teaching, ought to use them for the building up of the body of Christ (see Ephesians 4.11ff). But we should remember that the gifts we normally see used on Sunday are not the only gifts, and that even those who do have those gifts in abundance do not have them exclusively.

And so it was, with all that in mind, that we had a “One Another” service at PACC yesterday. We sang to God and to one another, we shared our struggles and joys with one another, we prayed for one another, we served communion to one another and passed the offering basket to one another, and we taught one another. Everyone who was there participated actively in at least one way, and most participated actively in multiple ways.

Perhaps when we post this e-mail on our PACC blog, people will comment on how they felt about that particular service, but I get to tell you now. I loved it.

It was an encouragement to me to hear the lessons that people shared, whether from a personal experience, from scripture, or from a God-honoring insight. It was heart-warming for me to observe a number of small groups of Christians sharing with each other and praying for each other. It was humbling to watch parents serve communion to their children, husbands serve their wives, wives serve their husbands, and friends serve their friends. Every part of the service touched me in a positive way.

So thank you, church, those of you who were able to be there, for being the church, for building up the body of Christ and for loving one another. The tender moments, the funny moments, the thoughtful moments, the moments of celebration, all worked together for the glory of God. And he must have been pleased.

According to Wikipedia, “Members of the Churches of Christ believe… that the only basis for restoring Christian unity is the Bible.” Therefore, as Batsell Barrett Baxter said, “the whole movement is designed to reproduce in contemporary times the church originally established on Pentecost, A.D. 30.”

Sounds good, eh? However, even the Churches of Christ take a cafeteria approach to Christianity, picking and choosing what Biblical practices to continue today.

Our ladies’ Bible class recently studied Acts chapter 4:

32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had…. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

Sounds like communism to me!

We talked about how most attempts at communism fall short of the ideal. We talked about how some practices of the Acts church might reflect their particular time and place. We talked about how their communal attitude was admirable, but not required, as a way for Christians to live.

Hey, wait a minute! I can see dismissing a Biblical practice on cultural grounds (you won’t see me wearing a hat to church), but should we be so quick to dismiss a Biblical practice just because it’s difficult? (After all, it’s been impossible to get rid of denominations, but surely that’s not what God had in mind; see v. 32 above.) I’ll agree that communal living is not required for salvation; however, what would the world be like if everyone shared as the Acts church did?

Our favorite stories are about underdogs pursuing their aspirations against all odds. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Why don’t we Christians do more of that?

What Biblical ideal are you reluctant to add to your plate?

Denny's Grand Slam

On February 3, 2009, Denny’s restaurants gave away an estimated 2,000,000 “Grand Slam” meals. I ate one of them.

Death Valley, CA

Misery loves company. We usually interpret this maxim to mean that people in pain* want those around them to be miserable, too. Some probably wish for that, but, more commonly, people who suffer often want only simple companionship as they endure a journey through the valley.

The other night, one friend, normally a bubbly sort, was sharing the fact that he had become depressed. So many aspects of his life that had been a source of joy and provision had suddenly fallen apart. Disappointment with a friend, loss of a job, radical changes to his responsibilities, and so on, were bringing him down emotionally and financially.

A group of his friends took him to task. They tried to get him to see the error in his thinking. They challenged him not to exaggerate. They dismissed the severity of his issues. They asked him to “count his blessings,” and then started a list for him. As if that weren’t enough, they Read the rest of this entry »

When I came across this church, I was reminded of Ezekiel and the vision of the valley of dry bones.

I wonder…is this really what becomes of churches that are minus the Holy Spirit?

Could life be restored to this church?

more pics

Christians generally regard trust in God as a good thing.  Even U.S. currency says “In God We Trust”, reminding us to depend on eternal rather than earthly treasures.

But how much do we really trust Him?

Our ladies’ Bible class recently studied Acts chapter 1:

23So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” 26Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

In our Sunday class, Lewis observed that we worry less about driving a car than flying in an airliner even though airline travel is proven to be safer, largely because in a car we feel more in control.  Are we as Christian decision-makers relying too much on human abilities:  researching the facts, weighing pros and cons, asking others’ opinions, going with our gut feelings?

Maybe we’re really a bunch of control freaks fooling ourselves about trusting in God.  Maybe those who cast lots are on to something the rest of us have no clue about.

I’m not saying we should ask God what we should wear each day, but we could look to Him far more often than we do.

Jeremiah 17:7  
”But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.

What difference would it make if we trusted Him more?